The US Forest Service recently revealed it spent about $200 million per week battling wildfires this past summer and fall.

It likely spent a good portion of that money in Washington. After all, aside from Alaska, which saw over 5 million acres of land burn this fire season, the Evergreen State was one of the worst hit by this year’s blazes. In fact, wildfires burned more than 900,000 acres of land across Washington by Sept. 3, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.

Those blazes started in July and continued through September thanks to hot and dry weather conditions.

As the season came to a close, firefighters contained the remainder of the state’s 1,000 or so wildfires enough to turn them over to local officials.

Unfortunately, by then the fires had killed three firefighters, destroyed hundreds of homes and buildings, and forced thousands of residents to evacuate.

Okanogan Complex Fire

Two of the biggest blazes that impacted Washington state this summer and fall were the Okanogan Complex fire and the Chelan Complex fire.

Experts believe lightning started the first of those fires, which started near the cities of Okanogan and Omak on Aug. 14.

A few noteworthy statistics tied to the Okanogan Complex wildfire:

At its peak, it burned as much as 300,000 acres of land

Other estimates put its size at over 400 square miles

Regardless, it wound up the largest wildfire in Washington state history (bigger than 2014’s Carlton Complex fire)

One more reason it’s important to stay on top of your auto and home insurance: fires like the ones that swept through a number of western states this year may now be the rule instead of the exception.

That is Tom Jeffery’s view of the situation, at least. The senior hazard risk scientist for Irvine, California-based CoreLogic recently told Insurance Journal, “five years ago we could have said this is probably out of the ordinary,” but today such fires are the norm.

Home and Flood Insurance, Too

It’s also important to carefully consider your homeowners insurance coverage if you have a house and live in an area that’s at all prone to wildfires.

The good news here is that standard home policies protect against fire-related destruction. (If you want to know more about what they will and won’t cover, read our “Home Insurance Basics” article.)

What this kind of coverage won’t protect against is flood damage. It may seem strange to mention that in an article about fire, but areas affected by wildfires are at a higher risk for flooding.

This is because roots that help soak up rain and other water are lost when fire destroys trees and plants. Flash floods and debris flows capable of demolishing homes and businesses are far more likely as a result.